Watch: Gay Couple Claim Mail Carrier Went Postal on Them with Homophobic Slurs

A gay couple in Columbus, Ohio say that a mail carrier rained homophobic slurs on them, removed their name from their mailbox, and threatened to no longer deliver their mail, local news station reports.

The couple, Michael Coward and Michael Vaughn, stopped by their mailbox while headed out to a party on Aug. 7, the Channel 10 news report said. The couple claim that when Coward took his mail before the mail carrier had finished, she unleashed a torrent of homophobic invective on them.

"I started arguing with her and she called me a [expletive]," Coward told Channel 10. "And then she just kept going on and on and on about me and my fiance [Vaughn] being white [expletives]."

Added Vaughn, "Yeah, not just [expletive]. White [expletives]."

Vaughn used his phone to record part of the exchange. Though the recording does not capture the postal worker actually using the "expletives" in question, Coward can be heard confronting the mail carrier over her alleged use of the slurs, to which she responds, "I called you what you are."

"The men say the USPS worker also took their names off their mailbox, saying they wouldn't get mail again," the Channel 10 report said.

Postal News.com also reported on the alleged incident. The couple filed a police report, Channel 10 reported, and the U.S. Postal Service issued a statement in which it said, "These actions - if true - are not consistent with and don't represent the values of the Postal Service organization and will not be tolerated. You can be assured that this alleged incident is being fully investigated and that the Postal Service will take whatever action is appropriate."

The alleged incident echoes a reported run-in between a gay man in Houston and a mail carrier there that took place earlier this year.

Watch video of the exchange below.

Kilian Melloy serves as EDGE Media Network's Assistant Arts Editor. He also reviews theater for WBUR. His professional memberships include the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association, the Boston Online Film Critics Association, The Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association, and the Boston Theater Critics Association's Elliot Norton Awards Committee.